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Mickey Mouse has got to be one of the most energetic rodents around—and he shows no signs of slowing down.

Which is good, because Hollywood can't get enough of the Mouse House (or his Club, his face on T-shirts, his ears on hats, etc.) and this brave little Scorpio remains the deceptively simple face of the whole operation.

Born to Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928, the cartoon (and sometimes plush) mouse sprang onto the scene in the animated short Steamboat Willie. He was a little on the pale side, but such was the fashion of the day.

Count Mickey among those Tom Hanks doesn't want to "piss off" with his portrayal of Walt Disney

Mickey was given the white-glove treatment for the first time in 1929's The Opry House, and spoke his first actual words later that year in The Karnival Kid, he hawked "Hot dogs! Hot dogs!" He got a dog, Pluto, in 1931, and he's been off and on with his soulmate, Minnie Mouse, since he's been animated.

Red has always been Mickey's signature color, and even though he didn't get to wear his shorts (hold the shirt) in 1935's The Band Concert, he wore a red maestro's coat in his Technicolor debut.

The star of page and screen has starred or appeared in hundreds of short and feature-length films and is probably on TV somewhere in the world every minute. And yet, somehow, he is always at Disneyland to meet his adoring public.

One could almost be led to believe that there's more than one of him!

And while he seems to have more and more characters to compete for attention with every day, from princesses to cars to Han Solo, Mickey remains the most recognized of them all, a cultural icon that indicates this is Disney's world, and we're just spending money in it.